Death at Yosemite Bruce Barcott | Outside | 18 December 2012 The story behind the outbreak of deadly hantavirus in summer 2012. The park had upgraded its accommodation to offer hard-sided cabins as well as tents for visitors. In doing so, it had unwittingly provided the perfect environment for a killer virus. Three people were to lose their lives, but it messed with the psyche of the rest of us, too.

Crazy far Tim Folger | National Geographic | 17 December 2012Will humans ever travel to the stars? To get an idea of the challenge, it would take the fastest spacecraft ever built 17,000 years to reach the nearest star. "It's Mars or nowhere," say some space experts. Others believe a form of interstellar exploration may be possible within 100 years. This piece investigates what it would take.

When you swallow a grenade Carl Zimmer | Loom | 18 December 2012We've come a long way in medical terms from the time when a scratch from a rose thorn could lead to death. The discovery of penicillin saw to that. But antibiotics also had unintended consequences, which scientists are now having to come to grips with. In the future, we'll need new antibiotics, we'll use them more sparingly and we may even learn to fight bacteria with bacteria.

Imitation of life Brian Hayes | American Scientist | 13 December 2012 Can a computer program reproduce everything that happens inside a living cell? A program with exactly that goal was published last summer. It included all the major processes of life. So are we on the threshold of “completing” molecular biology? This is how the researchers' simulation worked.

Gun control and 3D printers Devin Coldewey | TechCrunch | 16 December 2012 You can download a file and fabricate a toy gun on a 3D printer. How long will it be before you can make a real one? "Like the digitization of music, the digitization of objects, guns or otherwise, is a one-way street. Every step forward is ineffaceable." What, if anything, should we do about it?